In recent times, cloud computing services have been developed and deployed that allow customers to utilize computing resources without making capital expenditures to acquire such computing resources. Typically, a cloud computing service provider configures one or more computers and/or computer systems having at least one processor, storage and network access for the one or more computers and/or computer systems. These cloud computer systems allow a number of customers access to services provided by the computer systems. Services may include, for example, numerical processing, commercial transaction processing, storage, and/or web hosting.
In some cases, the cloud computing service provider configures the computer systems with one or more virtual machines (VMs) to service the customers' computing needs. VMs are virtual instances of an operating system that execute on underlying hardware resources. A VM user is provided with computing services that are logically separated from other instantiated VMs operating on the underlying hardware resources managed by the cloud computing service provider.